A teensy skeleton with a squashed alienlike head may have earthly origins, but the remains, found in the Atacama Desert a decade ago, do make for quite a medical mystery.

Apparently when the mummified specimen was discovered, some had suggested the possibility it was an alien that had somehow landed on Earth, though the researchers involved never suggested this otherworldly origin.

Now, DNA and other tests suggest the individual was a human and was 6 to 8 years of age when he or she died. Even so, the remains were just 6 inches (15 centimeters) long. [See Images of the Alien-Looking Human Remains]

"While the jury is out regarding the mutations that cause the deformity, and there is a real discrepancy in how we account for the apparent age of the bones … every nucleotide I've been able to look at is human," researcher Garry Nolan, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford School of Medicine, told LiveScience. "I've only scratched the surface in the analysis. But there is nothing that jumps out so far as to scream 'nonhuman.'"

Analyzing the tiny human

Nolan and his colleagues analyzed the specimen in the fall of 2012 with high-resolution photography, X-rays and computed tomography scans, as well as DNA sequencing. The researchers wanted to find out whether some rare disorder could explain the anomalous skeleton — for instance it had just 10 ribs as opposed to 12 in a healthy human — the age the organism died, as its size suggested a preterm fetus, stillborn or a deformed child, and whether it was human or perhaps a South American nonhuman primate.

The remains also showed skull deformities and mild underdevelopment of the mid-face and jaw, the researchers found. The skull also showed signs of turricephaly, or high-head syndrome, a birth defect in which the top of the skull is cone-shaped.

The genome sequencing suggested the creature was human, though 9 percent of the genes didn't match up with the reference human genome; the mismatches may be due to various factors, including degradation, artifacts from lab preparation of the specimen or insufficient data.

The team also looked at mitochondrial DNA, or the DNA inside the cells' energy-making structures that gets passed down from mothers to offspring. The so-called allele frequency of the mitochondrial DNA suggested the individual came from the Atacama, particularly from the B2 haplotype group. A haplotype is a long segment of ancestral DNA that stays the same over several generations and can pinpoint a group who share a common ancestor way back in time. In this case the B2 haplotype is found on the west coast of South America.

The data from the mitochondrial DNA alleles point toward "the mother being an indigenous woman from the Chilean area of South America," Nolan wrote in an email.

More mystery

The jury is still out on the mutations that caused the deformities, and the researchers aren't certain how old the bones are, though they estimate the individual died at least a few decades ago. In addition, they didn't find any of the mutations commonly associated with primordial dwarfism or other forms of dwarfism. If there is a genetic basis for the deformities, it is "not apparent at this level of resolution and at this stage of the analysis," Nolan wrote in a summary of his work.

In addition, even if they found those mutations, they may not explain the anomalies seen in the skeleton. "There is no known form of dwarfism that accounts for all of the anomalies seen in this specimen," Dr. Ralph Lachman, professor emeritus, UCLA School of Medicine, and clinical professor at Stanford University, wrote in a report to Nolan.

This wouldn't be the first time alien-looking remains have been brought to the attention of science. The alienlike skulls of children were discovered in a 1,000-year-old cemetery in Mexico. Researchers who examined the skulls said they had been deliberately warped and illustrated a practice of skull deformation that was common at the time in Central America.

"It's an interesting medical mystery of an unfortunate human with a series of birth defects that currently the genetics of which are not obvious," Nolan wrote of the Atacama skeleton.

The research was featured in film "Sirius," a crowd-funded documentary that premiered on April 22 in Hollywood, Calif.

So over coffee I had my wife look at this picture. As a Neonatologist she said that the skeletal form was in the variance one finds is fetuses of that maturity. The skull shape is what one might find if the brain was lost and did not provide pressure against the forming skull. In her premie population 24 week infants, going froward, can have "protruding" eyes just from the pressure of masks on around the nose and mouth of the infant to facilitate breathing because the skull is still forming (as well as the brain). Getting mummified remains in the Chilean dessicating conditions should not be surprising.

__________________Even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights. He has a right to harbor and indulge his imbecilities as long as he pleases. . . He has a right to argue for them as eloquently as he can, in season and out of season. He has a right to teach them to his children. But certainly he has no right to be protected against the free criticism of those who do not hold them. He has no right to demand that they be treated as sacred. He has no right to preach them without challenge." -H.L. Mencken

So over coffee I had my wife look at this picture. As a Neonatologist she said that the skeletal form was in the variance one finds is fetuses of that maturity. The skull shape is what one might find if the brain was lost and did not provide pressure against the forming skull. In her premie population 24 week infants, going froward, can have "protruding" eyes just from the pressure of masks on around the nose and mouth of the infant to facilitate breathing because the skull is still forming (as well as the brain). Getting mummified remains in the Chilean dessicating conditions should not be surprising.

So over coffee I had my wife look at this picture. As an Ancient Astronaut Theorist she said that the skeletal form was definitely not in the variance one finds is fetuses of that maturity. The skull shape is what one might find if the brain was over developed and possessed telepathic abilities. In her alien hybrid population 24 week alien babies, going froward, have "protruding" eyes just from the pressure of the space masks on around the nose and mouth of the infant to facilitate space breathing because the skull is still forming (as well as the brain). Getting mummified remains in the Chilean dessicating conditions should not be surprising.

__________________
Please note that any racist, sexist, or otherwise outrageous opinions expressed in this post have been made for comedic or trolling purposes only and are not the actual opinions of loochy or any affiliated entities. Reader discretion is advised.

Quote:

Originally Posted by big nasty kcnut

yeah i may be a retard but I'll be the one banging your girlfriend when you're out with your friends.

Does your wife have aliens with telepathic powers to make those assumptions as opposed to specimens from Smith's Book on Malformations?

__________________Even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights. He has a right to harbor and indulge his imbecilities as long as he pleases. . . He has a right to argue for them as eloquently as he can, in season and out of season. He has a right to teach them to his children. But certainly he has no right to be protected against the free criticism of those who do not hold them. He has no right to demand that they be treated as sacred. He has no right to preach them without challenge." -H.L. Mencken

Does your wife have aliens with telepathic powers to make those assumptions as opposed to specimens from Smith's Book on Malformations?

Yes. She has a collection she gathered from tombs in Mexico, Egypt, and India and she consults regularly with the Zeta Reticulians.

__________________
Please note that any racist, sexist, or otherwise outrageous opinions expressed in this post have been made for comedic or trolling purposes only and are not the actual opinions of loochy or any affiliated entities. Reader discretion is advised.

Quote:

Originally Posted by big nasty kcnut

yeah i may be a retard but I'll be the one banging your girlfriend when you're out with your friends.

So over coffee I had my wife look at this picture. As an Ancient Astronaut Theorist she said that the skeletal form was definitely not in the variance one finds is fetuses of that maturity. The skull shape is what one might find if the brain was over developed and possessed telepathic abilities. In her alien hybrid population 24 week alien babies, going froward, have "protruding" eyes just from the pressure of the space masks on around the nose and mouth of the infant to facilitate space breathing because the skull is still forming (as well as the brain). Getting mummified remains in the Chilean dessicating conditions should not be surprising.

__________________
Please note that any racist, sexist, or otherwise outrageous opinions expressed in this post have been made for comedic or trolling purposes only and are not the actual opinions of loochy or any affiliated entities. Reader discretion is advised.

Quote:

Originally Posted by big nasty kcnut

yeah i may be a retard but I'll be the one banging your girlfriend when you're out with your friends.

__________________
Please note that any racist, sexist, or otherwise outrageous opinions expressed in this post have been made for comedic or trolling purposes only and are not the actual opinions of loochy or any affiliated entities. Reader discretion is advised.

Quote:

Originally Posted by big nasty kcnut

yeah i may be a retard but I'll be the one banging your girlfriend when you're out with your friends.